Grant will help train Health Sciences' students

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Posted May. 16, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Posted May. 16, 2013 at 3:15 AM

EXETER -- The Seacoast Public Health Region was awarded $7,000 for capacity building from the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO). The region maintains two volunteer emergency preparedness units: The Greater Exeter Citizen Corps and The Greater Portsmouth Medical Reserve Corps.

Both units are members of Region I New England. There were 325 applications nationwide for this award and 100 awards were approved. In New England (USDHHS Region I), 45 applications were submitted and 22 were awarded.

“We are very excited about this funding and what we plan to do with it,” stated Mary Cook, Medical Reserve Corps Director and Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator.

The funding will be used to train students in the Health Sciences Technologies program at the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter. Students will begin training in their junior year and before the end of their senior year, prior to student internships, will have completed the trainings. The training will cover such topics as Disaster Psychology, Search & Rescue, Fire Safety, First Aid & CPR, and the Incident Command System plus many more. The project coordinator and guest instructors will incorporate modules into the existing curriculum as it fits appropriately. For example, if students are learning about the heart, they will complete CPR training or if they are working on the central nervous system, they will complete the unit on Disaster Psychology.

“Our goal is to educate and motivate students to join our Medical Reserve Corps units and volunteer within the groups, whether it is working at a shelter or a road race,” states Cook. “There is something for everyone in our group and we would like to include young people into our program as they are our future.”

For more information or to volunteer, call Mary Cook at the Exeter Fire Department at 418-6404 or visit their website at www.seacoastphr.org.